Made a nice bit of progress in Hollow Knight this afternoon, and while I noticed early on how it borrowed a bit from Dark Souls, it really strikes me now just how much of a love letter this game appears to be to the Souls games.

The interconnected world with all the clever shortcuts, rewarding combat, a world that has seen far better days, where many of the remaining inhabitants have gone mad, the ability to explore certain areas and take on some bosses in a different order, and the intellectual conversation of the few sane who remain. And of course the ability to collect currency after the player has perished, when you revisit the location you died.

But despite all that, it still succeeds in being it's own unique and fascinating game that demands its locations be explored, and mysteries solved.It does have it's metroidvania elements as well though, not unsual for a 2D adventure game like this these days, but I haven't found that to be too tiresome what with how lovingly crafted the rest of the game is.